Forums General Discussion Please Read Karen

My Threads keep being deleted regardless if they have spam in them or not Can you please do something about it

Maybe your idea of advertising is not the same as whoever is giving your posts the bootskies.

If you mention a URL and say "Hey go here" or otherwise word your post to encourage all the users to visit there then it is advertising.

seeing as there wasn't a single link IRC server or channel in there I hardly think it was spam, if Emails arn;t allowed Karen should have stated that in his/her post

Ok you may not have provided a link but telling users what network and/or channel you are on is considered a mild form of spam i.e. "Hey join this network <insert network name here> if you have any questions you can either visit me here <enter channel name here> or you can email me at <insert email address here>!" That my friend is spam. I am assuming that karen didn't post anything on spamming because that is like common knowledge to any IRC user.

Nope here is what the post was basicly

Myself and some friends have started up a new software group blah blah to visit us [edit] or email me at [~~Email Deleted~~] for the information

I'd say that was spam. Also, it's not a good idea to post your email addy in a thread/post unless you don't mind getting spammed yourself.

Thats more of a backup email I have a personal

You completely missed the point.

anything that displays info of yours on another site IS SPAM

Yea but you left out a crucial part, "unsolicited" if he was asked to post his email and/or the info for whatever it is he is doing, well then that would not be spam. But if you do it without being asked...

Like in your signature? :tongue:

a post about a place to go to trade software/games/etc is most definately spam, not to mention that this forum isnt warez central. You cant seriously think any of the moderators would have left a post like that up? Even editing the spam wouldnt help that one.

We clearly ask that you not spam or advertise here...something that anyone who uses IRC or email should know is frowned on.The reason we edit out emails is for YOUR protection, since many ppl dont seem to be aware there are bots that scan the web looking for email addys to spam.

I fail to see how your posts, The_Game, are any different. Your signature clearly states a server and a channel that you're (maybe) a moderator in. That my friend is spam too! Try not to be so hypocritical on trivial things.

Advertising is against the rules, yes. However you are missing one important thing which is this:

It is quite customary on just about every forum in the world that users can quote their own website URL/ IRC channel in signatures. If it was to be banned here in the name of rigidly enforcing the advertising rule then it would be the first forum in the world to do so.

If this is the case, then aren't the rules very contradictive? It is alright to list what servers/channels you hang out at in your signature (which appears on every single post you make), but if you mention anywhere in the body of just one post the SAME exact information, it is considered advertising? Please! You can NOT justify the difference from posting "advertisements" (servers/channels you like to visit) in your signature versus making a post with the same information. This is just silly.

Well why don't you put it in your sig then?

The signature is a far less disruptive place to have an advertisement, if they were allowed anywhere else the board would be flooded with threads made by people trying to advertise their dead channels.

Please! You can NOT justify the difference

I don't need to. However as a forum owner I also grant my users the same right as I have become accustomed to. It's a matter of having some respect for the people that make a site what it is. It's also about being reasonable instead of being a nazi.

While on this subject and as Collective has clearly indicated, there's a big difference between posting a URL on it's own and plastering a thread with HEY COME HERE AND DOWNLOAD MAH L337 MP3 PLAYA <-- Used by a poster in another thread elsewhere here.

Signatures on posts are just a "This is me, this is where I come from". It's a measure put in by a vast majority of forum coders for this specific purpose. However the person that put something similar to what I said in allcaps in the other thread I mentioned thinks that this is a submission service. It's not. It's a discussion forum and nothing else.

In my case, and prolly for many others, i have the network and channel i am in my sig as a way for ppl to find me (or any of our channel ops) online if they feel they need an explanation of my post or help in real time.

In members profiles there is a place to put the channel /network they frequent and various other info. Do some ppl on all msg boards abuse the ability to put things in their sigs when their intent is to spam? Sure. Is it possible that some of those are infected urls or lead to infected downloads? Sure, ditto in their profiles. When the intent is to show this is where i am if you need help, this is what i'm all about, thats a lot diff from the blatant spam we see some ppl post.

IMO, in all cases you have to take intent into consideration. When i tell someone to go to a network's website to find the answer to their question, i'm not spamming that network, i'm telling them the best place to find their answer. If instead i posted "hey, y'all come to ____", thats spam.

If you want to get into the technicalities of my signature well ok here you go...I did not specifically tell anyone to join a network, or a channel nor did I ever provide a link to any webpages pertaining to the network or channel that I chat on in any post that I have made. I only put said information in my signature because the same reason as most (parabrat nailed it on the money) So that if anyone had any questions about a post or anything they can more than likely find me there to ask me in person.

If you need to know yes I have had a few people come in and speak to me about posts I had made, they either wanted clarification or to just come in and shoot the perverbial [censored]. Hell If I wanted to be a smartass about it well you know where your nickname is to the upper left..right where it says where you're from. Isn't that advertising where youre from? Yep. Did we ask where you're from? Nope. Do we care? Nope...

It is absolutely ludicrous that anyone would think making a thread to advertise something and putting your network info/email in your sig are the same thing.

People with it in their signature make posts relevant to the thread each time they post (or sometimes a little off-topic, but thats ok).. but at least there is OTHER content.. the MAIN content of the post.